


Pick A Word

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [30]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-19 02:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17592773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: Swiping the piece of paper from his desk, he studies it and sighs, but decides that nothing is going to stop him from finishing the puzzle. OK, so his answers may not necessarily be the ones Sam’s looking for, but maybe if she just sees it complete, she’ll not look too closely at the answers.A deprecating snort escapes and he rolls his eyes at his own stupidity.This was Carter. Of course, she’ll look too closely.





	Pick A Word

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Puzzle Day’.

“Me and my big mouth,” Jack grouses to his empty office.

Swiping the piece of paper from his desk, he studies it and sighs, but decides that nothing is going to stop him from finishing the puzzle. OK, so his answers may not necessarily be the ones Sam’s looking for, but maybe if she just sees it complete, she’ll not look too closely at the answers.

A deprecating snort escapes and he rolls his eyes at his own stupidity.

This was _Carter_. Of course, she’ll look too closely.

Sighing again, he picks up a pencil and starts bouncing it between his thumb and index finger.

“Let’s see… five across… ha!”

He grins triumphantly as he scribbles down his answer in the appropriate squares before moving on to the next clue.

“And to think Carter’s the genius around here,” he chuckles.

A half hour later and he rounds the corner as casually as he can manage and into Sam’s lab.

“Oh, Carter?”

He's pretty sure she can hear the unmistakable pride in his voice before she even turns around.

“Sir?” she finally answers spinning in her chair with what looks suspiciously like a fake smile aimed in his direction.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I –” He frowns, because he really doesn’t. “No. But here, I’ve got something for you.”

With a flourish, he produces the now-folded piece of paper with the crossword on it and holds it out to her. She eyes him warily but she reaches for it regardless, and when her fingers brush against his, Jack tries not to react to the way her touch makes his entire body hum.

“Have you finished this already?”

“Yep.”

“It’s completed?”

“Yep.”

“Correctly?”

He sighs dramatically as his fingers drum against the surface of the lab bench. “Yes, Carter.”

“And you’re sure you don’t want to run an eye over it again?”

“No, but thank you for the unwavering faith you’re showing in my puzzle-completing skills.”

She tries, but fails, to hide her amusement. “OK,” she answers, lifting her hands in the air in a placating gesture. “I just wanted to check.”

Jack grunts in response, but he doesn’t really mind – because it’s Carter. To be fair, he thinks she could probably shoot him and he still wouldn’t care. He hears her sigh and looks in her direction.

“We’re really doing this?”

“I believe the deal was your physics crap – ah, _book_ – physics book – for my Simpsons comics. Plus, a hundred bucks and loser buys dinner.”

Sam shakes her head at his boyish grin and unfolds the piece of paper. He watches as she picks one of the clues at random and then looks for his answer. His attention shifts between the page and Carter’s face but she’s giving nothing away in her expression.

And then he sees it. That glint in her eye, and he knows he’s screwed.

He tries not to wince as Sam methodically refolds the puzzle and slides it across the lab bench, her gaze now latched onto his.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, before he sighs in defeat. “Alright, hit me.”

When a smirk is his answer, he steps closer to the bench and leans his elbows on the surface, his shoulder brushing Sam’s, while one of his hands grabs the paper and he starts to turn it over between his fingers.

“Five across. Big Bertha’s birthplace. Five letters.”

His expression is neutral, but he’s frantically trying to remember what he’s written. Not that it really matters. It’s clearly wrong.

“The answer is _Essen_ ,” Sam provides. “You’ve written _Miami_.”

“Yes,” he answers, a strange smile on his face as he recalls his answer.

“Miami?” Sam asks in bemusement.

“What? We had a neighbor in Chicago who ended up moving back to Miami with her husband,” he shrugs. “She was called Bertha, but all the kids used to call her ‘Big Bertha’ because she had really big –”

“I get it,” Sam cuts in with a look of displeasure. “You do know what Big Bertha is, right, sir?”

He knows there’s a faraway look in his eye – which probably tells Sam all she needs to know. He _isn’t_ thinking about Essen. With a sigh, his teammate stands and reaches over him and Jack tries desperately not to lean in with her and smell her hair. He fleetingly thinks about asking her what shampoo she uses when he sees her pull a very thick and heavy-looking book from a nearby shelf.

“Get reading,” she quips as she drops the book into his hands.

Slowly, almost fearfully, Jack casts his gaze downwards and pulls a face.

_Differentiable Manifolds And Theoretical Astrophysics: An Introduction._

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud,” he grumbles. “Say, Carter. Wanna go double or nothing?”


End file.
